Labor has proposed, if elected to scrap stamp duty for first homebuyers paying up to $800,000. This is great news for first homebuyers, giving them a better chance of entering the market and saving tens of thousands of dollars off the cost of their home purchase.
Under the proposed new scheme it would see future homeowners benefit by paying no stamp duty for purchases worth up to $800,000 and charged a lower rate for those purchasing a home up to $1M.
The proposed changes to stamp duty comes in contrast to stamp duty changes introduced by the state government, which allow first homebuyers to opt out of the one off tax, often billed in the tens of thousands of dollars, in favour of a smaller, annual land tax over the life of their ownership.
The scheme applies to both new and existing homes at a cost of $722 million over three years and will not include an annual tax as a replacement for stamp duty. It doesn’t apply to vacant land.
Under the current scheme, stamp duty on an existing property worth $800,000 is about $31,000.
From January 16th, first homebuyers purchasing a new property worth up to $1.5m or land worth up to $800,000 can elect to pay an annual land tax of $400 plus 0.3 per cent of the property’s land value instead of a one off payment of stamp duty. Home buyers purchasing an existing property are not eligible for the scheme.
With the new changes as well as the additional proposal to stamp duty taxes if labor is elected, the government hopes to see more first home buyers able to purchase in the very near future.
SOURCE – Information sourced from realestate.com.au
